1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to stackable trays. More particularly, the invention relates to a stackable tray for use in delivering baked products.
2. Background Art
The use of plastic trays for the storage and delivery of baked products is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art of the present invention. Such trays generally incorporate features such as a handles, which allows users to pickup trays to stack or un-stack them. Other well known features included stacking in a 0° stacking orientation and a 180° stacking orientation. The 0° stacking orientation describes the configuration when a second, similar tray is placed upon a lower tray such that the front wall of the upper and lower tray face the same direction. In the 180° stacking orientation, the front wall of the upper tray is located above the rear wall of the lower tray. Usually, the 180° stacking orientation increases the efficiency of stacking empty trays because when in the 180° stacking orientation, the upper tray partially nests within the lower tray, reducing the total height of the stacked trays.
As described, stacking trays in a 180° stacking orientation reduces the overall height of the stacked trays as compared to the 0° stacking orientation. Thus, retailers can place more of the stacked trays in less space for storage until the provider of the baked goods retrieves them to be filled at a warehouse or bakery. However, when the baked product manufacturer retrieves the empty trays stacked in the 180° stacking orientation, it is sometimes difficult to un-stack the empty trays. It is difficult to un-stack the empty trays because the stacking feet of the upper tray that fit within receptacles in the lower trays tend to be difficult to extract from the receptacles. When there are hundreds of trays to un-stack and move, increasing the ease of un-stacking can make a considerable difference in the time and effort required to un-stack the trays, thereby saving money.
Further, known trays suffer from problems when fully loaded and stacked in the 0° stacking orientation. Because trays are manufactured to tight size and weight tolerances, the amount of plastic used (in most cases, high density polyethylene (HDPE) to manufacture the trays) is reduced to an amount that sometimes is inadequate to fully support the weight of the baked products. When a tray is fully loaded, bending of the base of the tray can occur which can damage the tray, and more importantly, the product located in a lower tray. This is especially true when the baked product are flour or corn tortillas.
Further, as well known to those of skill in the art of the invention, when trays are designed to carry heavier loads of baked product, it becomes very difficult to use bases that are ribbed. To provide greater strength, the trays are provided with substantially flat, horizontal upper surface on the base. Trays that have such upper surface on the base, however, are difficult to clean and subsequently dry. Water will pool on the substantially flat, upper surface of the base.
Some retailers will attempt to use rudimentary tools to retrieve empty trays. Known trays have either excessively large handles that weaken side walls, or smaller handles that make the side wall stronger but which are difficult to retrieve with the tray retrieving tool. The industry standard tray retrieving tool has a handle at one end, a long thin member attached to the handle at a proximate end, and a hook at a distal portion of the long thin member. The user retrieves trays with the hooked end by sliding or inserting it into the handle and pulling on the tray.
Further, known trays have handles that are similarly designed so that the trays are substantially symmetrical about all four side walls. While aesthetically pleasing, however, such handles make it difficult for a user to determine, at a glance, whether multiple stacked trays are in a 0° or a 180° stacking orientation.
Furthermore, known trays are typically designed to handle only one type of product. That is, the dimensions of the tray (interior width, depth, height, and stacking depths) are configured to optimally fit just one type of product. While different products can be placed and shipped in these prior art trays, movement can occur during shipping and handling, leading to product damage.
Thus, a need exists for a tray that overcomes the problems described above of difficulty in un-stacking in a 180 stacking orientation, in cleaning substantially flat upper surfaces of the bases, and in retrieving trays in an efficient manner.